BLAH

THE NEWZ:


• Um... there's not much to check. How about that Tough Enough 2 finale? Both women made it, boy the guys must have sucked. Especially Jake cause you'd think he'd be a shoe-in with his wrestler-looking physique. Kenny might have been good but he's just another Maven, so why would we need him. We wouldn't!
  
  Hopefully the girls do well. I like them both better than boring gay Nidia, in any event. I also liked seeing the other former Tough Enoughers like stinky clumsy Darryl. ALSO how awesome was Jake going to stand when they announced Jackie? Ha HA.
  
  And "Bob Holly's fiancee", hey that wasn't BB. What's going on, Bob?
  
  RAW:
  
  Eww I don't need the peeing or puke, but woo THONGS I like that and HOLY CRAP SHAWN MICHAELS! I hope he wrestles. I eagerly await his promo.
  
  CREDIT TO THE TORCH:
  
  Take it away, Wade!
  
  
• Regarding the Nash/X-Pac situation from two weeks ago: the plans for that night's Raw came across to them like Nash was being turned babyface, so Nash and X-Pac expressed their disagreement to the writers. Vince wasn't there cause he was producing the karaoke stuff. X-Pac eventually threatened to quit, and went as far as grabbing his bags and walking out. Nash then said if X-Pac was quitting, he didn't want to stick around either.
  
  Shane McMahon hasn't been attending TV events for months now, but he goes to the PPV's and was at Raw because it was the night after Judgment Day. He stepped in and helped talk through the situation, likely smoothing things out more than they'd have been if he wasn't there. By the time Raw went on the air, a lot had been accomplished. Nash and X-Pac helped tweak the segments, but there was no overhaul of what had been planned. They also reached a truce with Brian Gewertz about future potential disputes.
  
  Nash and ‘Pac argued that when the WWF had the most success, the writers called the wrestlers days before TV to talk about the plans... but that hasn't happened lately. All parties apparently agreed to discuss TV plans as soon as possible so everyone can contribute without having last second arguments and re-writes.
  
  
• Raven convinced the writers that he'd be more valuable as a wrestler, so no more broadcasting for him.
  
  
• Several development wrestlers from both HWA and OVW have been complaining that most of their in-ring training is geared towards "old school" moves that they don't think they'd ever get to use during a WWE match.
  
  
• Scott Hall has been telling friends that he wasn't fired... instead he quit because he was being booked more than his contract called for. He's also saying that he got sick from the times Austin dumped beer on him, because he'd been taking his anti-alcohol pills at the time. Hall hadn't gotten his official release as of press time, and possibly those issues might have been holding it up... but he's signed with the Jarrett's now, so I guess it's all over with.
  
  
• The latest plan for Dawn Marie is to work her into D-Von's act, but Heyman is said to be making a strong push to put her with Lance Storm.
  
  
• If you were wondering, wrestlers don't get to attend production meetings anymore. Triple H, Jericho, X-Pac, and Al Snow used to be among the wrestlers who'd be at the meetings, but a few months ago they were restricted to management and writers only.
  
  
• Despite the heat he has with Goldberg, Triple H is not against him being hired although he probably wouldn't agree with it. More than one former WCW wrestler has said they'd like to see Goldberg get hired just to see him "fall flat on his face" when it came to WWE match and interview and schedule demands.
  
  
• Austin was at Raw all day, the "family emergency" stuff was just to explain why he wouldn't have attacked Eddie earlier in the show. This somewhat comes from Nash's complaints to the writers the previous week. They'd asked him to be filmed showing up at Raw at 10:35, and Nash said it was unrealistic that he'd arrive that late and that the writers should come up with better reasons for why wrestlers wouldn't be involved earlier in the show.
  
  
• Taker hurt his hip in his opening segment against RVD last week, but insisted on going through with the match despite the injury.
  
  
• Bradshaw's push has been scaled back. There was a general feeling among agents and the wrestlers he worked with that Bradshaw is better in a tag situation rather than having to carry his end of a longer match.
  
  
• Austin had been suggesting a feud with Eddie Guerrero for a while, going back to last year. Austin likes Eddie and thinks they'll have good matches.
  
  
• Kanyon and Rey Jr. worked matches at recent OVW tapings.
  
  
• Vince Russo has written a book about his days in the WWF, which is being shopped around to publishers. He's made it clear that he wouldn't hold back any details. Wade speculates that if Vince McMahon is worried about things Russo might know, maybe he'd offer Russo a job if it stops the book from coming out.
  
  
• One current WWE wrestler says about Steve Austin: "He's killing himself off. He won't let anyone get any heat on him. No matter what the circumstances, he always dominates the situation and never gives the impression he's in jeopardy."
  
  
• Shawn Michaels has apparently become religious and admitting he was in on the Bret situation might have been part of confessing and coming clean.
  
  
• The first NWA PPV will feature a battle royal for the vacant NWA title. The June 26th PPV, which will be taped the same night as the first one, will feature a tournament for the Middleweight championship. At this point it will be a 6-man round robin tourney, and although AJ Styles is expected to be the star of the division, he won't necessarily win the title right away.
  
  
• The taping will also include a female battle royal where the winner will get a TNA contract. Francine is the only entry in the match so far. There will be many unknowns involved, as well as some girls with name recognition.
  
  
• Mike Tenay, Ed Ferrara, and Don West will be the NWA announcing team. Saturday Night Live used to do skits parodying the Shop at Home Network with Will Ferrell as Don West. Jerry met briefly with Scott Hudson, but it was more a greeting than a job interview.
  
  
• Don't expect many big names making surprise appearances at the first PPV. Jerry says one area he's not budging away from is his incentive-based contract structure. They talked with Warrior, but no deal was made. Sid is still incapacitated from his ankle injury and is not in the plans. Jeff talked with Sting and found out what others are saying, that Sting isn't open to returning to a regular schedule. At best Sting is open to a one-time WrestleMania caliber payoff opportunity.
  
  Scott Hall has been signed. There was speculation that the WWE may not release Hall until after the first Jarrett show so that he'd be unable to be involved.
  
  Talks with Randy Savage broke off because Savage insisted that Jerry work through Savage's "accountant". There's been no talks with Goldberg. Jeff has talked to Lex Luger. There's been no talks with Curt Hennig.
  
  
• Don West went on Opie & Anthony to discuss the PPV's, and the hosts said they'd buy the first show just to hear Don announce. Jeff went on Dave Meltzer's audio show to discuss the promotion.
  
  
• Jeff, Dutch Mantell, Ron Harris, and Ed Ferrara are contributing booking ideas.
  
  
• A number of wrestlers are privately laughing at company management for being unorganized. Several wrestlers have said that after being contacted by the promotion, they can't get anyone to return their phone calls.
  
  
• Brian Christopher was slated for a role with the Jarrett's, but he's been assured by WWE personnel that a WWE offer is coming so he might not be involved.
  
  
• Jerry says there are areas where they'll have an advantage over the WWE. "We can work closely with a talent that might have needed extra attention in a different atmosphere where there were more wrestlers and over 150 dates. We really are different because we can have an attention to detail with everything we do that just isn't possible with WWE. Vince McMahon can't hands-on produce every talent at every event. We literally can, therefore some talent that has failed elsewhere may thrive with us."
  
  
• Ticket sales for the June 19th event have gone very slowly, which is concerning the Jarretts. They plan to turn up the local promotion for the event.
  
  
• Bob Ryder continues his work for the promotion as their travel agent, but he's also helping to communicate with the wrestlers regarding plans for the first event.
  
  
• To repeat: Vince Russo has no role within the company aside from being "phone pals" with Jeff.
  
  
• Between the wrestlers, the TNA girls, and the NWA people (like retired legends and suits), the Jarretts expect to have about 75 talents on hand for the first show.
  
  
• Jerry plans to build around three centerpieces: the heavyweight title, the middleweight title, and the tag titles which he plans to stress as a major factor unlike WWE and WCW in recent years.
  
  
• XWF Wrestlers have been told to expect an announcement about the company's TV situation by May 31st. Hahaha oops.
  
  
• XWF officials are telling wrestlers that the company is not moving their HQ to Atlanta.
  
  
• XWF Owner Walter Frank was on vacation until late last week, so he had not been able to review either of the 2 TV deals the company is said to have on the table.
  
  
• The Calgary Sun reported that the British Columbia coroner believes Davey Boy Smith's heart failure was brought on by steroid use. Old use or current use? A toxicology report should be available in about two weeks and should shed concrete info on what he may have had in his system.
  
  
• Kevin Sullivan is booking a tour in Peru using several indy wrestlers from Florida.
  
  
• Joey Styles signed to be the voice of Major League Wrestling home videos, which feature matches taped at the former ECW Arena. The "always humble" Styles put out a press release, talking about the WWE offer he turned down and all the other offers he's gotten to be part of wrestling, but NOW only an incredible promotion like Major League Wrestling can blah blah blah.
  
  LINK OF THE WEEK:
  
  Buy these tapes!
  
  CLOSING OF THE WEEK:
  
  Seeya!
  
  

BLAH